THE PHOENIX PENCIL COMPANY is a journey through memory by an elderly Chinese woman on the cusp of dementia. It is also a story of her granddaughter, heavily invested in creating a new app that connects disparate people, long separated, among other capabilities. Author Allison King has attempted to use both of these tales to discuss inter-generational trauma and the desire of people to leave a unique mark on their world. Those are lofty ambitions for a first time author and not completely realized. The book is fascinating and touches on many innate human desires for stability and family. The book isn’t quite the sum of its parts; but some of its parts are truly inspired. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

This had some aspects of magical realism that threw me off a bit, making the story a bit less realistic yet at the same time, its inclusion added a certain depth and layer to war, espionage, and the like that comprised a large part in this story. The protagonists contained a special power, passed down generationally, to "reforge" pencils, learning the stories and hence thoughts of those who once wrote with them. The stories carried within basic pencils was a very interesting premise and created a very different kind of unintentional dialogue between characters and, in this case, helped to coin together the lost relationship between Monica's grandmother (Wong Yun) and her cousin as well as detail how this magical power was exploited by the Chinese military. I loved how Wong Yun's deteriorating memory was juxtaposed with the urgency of telling her story and her recorded history; but how cool would it have been if this was "hidden" in pencils instead of just written and shared in a journal format. I got lost in the drudgery of Monica trying to find herself and was more intrigued in the tenuous relationship between her grandmother and cousin, as well as the specific war circumstances and events of Wong Yun's adolescence and young adulthood. These alternating story formats always seem to end with me favoring one storyline more than another. I appreciated the journal entry format but would have preferred more heartfelt conversation between Monica and her grandmother as a way of sharing historical occurrences, solidifying the bond and close knit relationship between these two characters as painted by the author. It was an interesting story but not captivating.

Thank you to Book Club Girl and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an objective review

Thank you, netgalley and William Morrow for the advance review copy of this debut novel. Allison King’s The Phoenix Pencil Company’s premise lured me in immediately - magical pencils, alternating chapters with flashbacks to WW2 China, budding (PG-13) queer romance, and a warm grandparent / granddaughter relationship story - it checked a lot of boxes for a perfect Pride Month read.

The grandmother and grandfather’s relationship, which felt realistic and deeply loving, was the only thing I found myself invested in and I eagerly returned to their chapters. Seriously, they are the most charming couple and you cannot help but root for good things to flow their way.

The rest of it didn’t quite come together for me.

For starters, the magical pencils cause bodily harm and mental anguish to those who command them, yet they still get passed down the generations. Stranger still, there is a good workaround for said pain and discomfort and the characters refuse to lean into it. (Whyyyy???)

That said, based on other reviews I am very much in the minority of those who didn’t love it so if your summer beach tote needs a historical fiction addition, this book, with it’s sunshine cover, don’t gloss over this one.

4.25* This was the perfect book for me—magical, imaginative, and delightfully packed with nerdy analogies that hit just right. Set in the richly detailed backdrop of Shanghai between the two wars, the story weaves fiction with a surprising amount of historical context, which added both depth and texture without ever feeling heavy-handed.

The narrative transported me completely. It was whimsical without being frivolous, grounded without losing its charm. From start to finish, it maintained a lightness and warmth that made it a genuinely feel-good read. It's a rare kind of story—unique, cozy, and quietly profound.

Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for a copy. This is out now!

The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King is a quietly mesmerizing novel that blends historical fiction with magical realism, unfolding through dual timelines stitched together by journals, notes, and a sense of mystery that slowly builds. Though the beginning moves at a gentle pace, I found myself gradually drawn in, compelled by the story’s quiet questions and the glimmers of magic that begin to surface early on.

At its core, the novel asks: How do we share who we are? Is it through ink on a page, pixels on a screen—or perhaps something more enchanted, like a magical pencil? King invites readers to consider what it means to preserve a story and whether all stories should be preserved. The book doesn’t rush toward answers, but instead lingers in possibility, urging reflection.

The dual timelines—one grounded in the past, one unfolding in the near-present—create a rich, layered narrative. The magical elements are woven in with care, not flashy but deeply symbolic. This is not a quick or easy read, but it’s an intriguing one, rewarding patient readers with profound insights and resonant themes.

The Phoenix Pencil Company is about memory, legacy, and the evolving tools we use to tell our truths. A beautifully introspective novel for readers who love their fiction thought-provoking and quietly magical.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy.

The Phoenix Pencil Company
A Novel by Allison King
Published by William Morrow

I was immediately intrigued when I first read the description of The Phoenix Pencil Company. A family saga intertwined with magical realism, dual timelines, LGBTQIA+ themes, and historical fiction — all centered around a mysterious ability to “Reforge” the memories contained in pencils? It sounded like a truly original concept. And I’m always drawn to stories about memory and legacy, particularly when they involve the bond between grandparents and grandchildren. I’m glad I picked this one up, even though my experience with it was a bit mixed.

The novel follows Monica Tsai, a socially anxious college freshman and computer science major who finds more comfort in her coding projects than in face-to-face interactions. Monica is especially close to her grandparents, who raised her, and when she comes home for a visit and learns that her beloved grandmother Yun’s memory is starting to deteriorate, her world begins to shift. Yun, a survivor of two wars and a life filled with hidden pain, is a complex and quietly fierce woman — and as her memories fade, Monica grows desperate to preserve her family’s history and help her grandmother find closure with her long-lost cousin Meng.

What Monica soon discovers is a family secret beyond anything she could have imagined. The women in her family possess a magical ability to “Reforge” the memories of a pencil’s past writers — an ability that was once used to help with espionage efforts during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai and later in Taiwan. This power comes with both beauty and tragedy, and its legacy has left scars on Yun, Meng, and the generations that followed.

The story alternates between Monica’s present-day perspective and Yun’s past, unfolding through letters, journal entries, and traditional narration. I have to say, Yun’s chapters were the standout for me. King’s writing truly shines in the historical sections — the atmosphere of wartime Shanghai is vivid, tense, and emotionally layered. I was completely absorbed in Yun’s story: her childhood, the growing bond with her cousin Meng, their coming of age in a time of unimaginable danger, and the moral compromises they are forced to make to survive. The Reforging magic added a fascinating dimension to these chapters, functioning as both a literal tool and a metaphor for the way history and memory are written, altered, and preserved — sometimes against our will.

I listened to part of the book on audio as well, and I’m so glad I did. The narration really enhanced the experience, especially with the dual perspectives and shifting timelines. The narrator(s) brought real warmth and nuance to both Monica and Yun’s voices — capturing Monica’s youthful uncertainty and growing determination, as well as Yun’s quiet strength and deep well of emotion. The emotional beats landed even more strongly in audio, and the pacing felt natural and immersive. If you enjoy audiobooks, I’d absolutely recommend this format for The Phoenix Pencil Company. It brought another layer of intimacy to a story that is, at its heart, about voice and memory.

Monica’s chapters were a little more uneven for me. While I appreciated her love for her grandparents and her desire to protect them, I sometimes found her passive and difficult to fully connect with. Her relationship with Louise had moments of sweetness but didn’t always feel fully developed, and I struggled a bit with the shift in tone when the romance and tech-ethics plotline took center stage later in the book. The novel raises compelling questions about data privacy and the ethics of digital storytelling, but I thought some of those ideas could have been explored more deeply or more smoothly integrated with the central family narrative.

One of the challenges I had was with the mechanics of the Reforging process itself. While I loved the idea conceptually — the notion that the words and emotions imbued in a humble pencil could be recovered and relived — I often found the descriptions of how it worked to be either too vague or too uncomfortable. The process involves a physical act of drawing the pencil’s history out through the body, and certain aspects of this felt oddly graphic and occasionally distracting from the emotional core of the story. I also struggled a bit with the pacing in the second half of the novel. The book is beautifully written, but there were moments where it dragged, and I found myself wishing the narrative had been a little tighter and more focused.

That said, there is so much heart in this story. Monica’s devotion to her grandparents — especially her grandmother — resonated deeply with me. As someone who has watched loved ones struggle with dementia, I found Yun’s gradual loss of memory heartbreaking and sensitively portrayed. The love between Monica and her grandparents is the emotional anchor of the book, and those scenes felt authentic and moving. I also appreciated the novel’s nuanced portrayal of intergenerational trauma — how silence, sacrifice, and unspoken pain ripple down through a family, and how healing those wounds often requires bravery and openness.

I’ve seen comparisons to A Tale for the Time Being and The Midnight Library, and while I think The Phoenix Pencil Company is very much its own story, it does share that sense of quiet magic and emotional introspection. It is less about flashy worldbuilding or high fantasy and more about the everyday magic of memory, storytelling, and human connection. The Reforging pencils are an inventive narrative device, but the true magic here lies in the relationships between the characters and the questions the novel asks about how we shape — and are shaped by — the stories we inherit.

Ultimately, this is a book that will likely resonate differently with each reader. For me, it wasn’t a perfect read — the pacing issues and my difficulty connecting with parts of the modern storyline kept it from being a five-star experience. But I absolutely admired Allison King’s ambition and the emotional depth she brought to her debut. Yun’s story, in particular, will stay with me for a long time. I’m eager to see what King writes next.

Thank you to Allison King, Libro.fm, and Harper Audio for my gifted ALC, and to Harper Audio and William Morrow for my gifted ARC.

This was mostly very enjoyable and interesting. There is one particular plot point regarding the rules of the magic that felt quite awkward. I liked the structure with stories across time and how information was revealed.

This story had a very interesting concept and the magical realism piece was unlike anything I’ve ever read. Although parts of how it happened were a bit strange, it had very thought provoking discussions about how we share stories and connect with others. Some parts of the story felt a bit disjointed or I didn’t connect with completely but overall a solid debut novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow publishing for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

3.5 stars

This story follows two women in dual-timelime format. The characters and settings were beautifully developed, full of depth, detail and personality. That said, I am not totally sold on the magical realism,it felt out of place in an otherwise emotional and heartfelt story. Still, I really enjoyed the read overall.

The Phoenix Pencil Company is a fantastic dual timeline historical fiction story that follows the history of a family of women with the ability to reproduce the memory of things written by their pencil company‘s pencils. Amidst the turmoil of WWII and the following Chinese civil war, cousins Yun and Meng are forced to reckon with their unique power and its dangerous repercussions.

As Yun‘s memory fades, her granddaughter, a budding computer developer, uses her professor‘s new application, EMBRS, to connect with a fellow student who may hold the key to her grandmother‘s unspoken history. This ambitious debut artfully weaves magical realism with the realities of war and tender romances with difficult questions about connection, privacy, and who deserves to know our stories. Complex and immersive and filled with heart, this is an accomplished debut.

3.5 ⭐️ Generational family historical novel with magic throughout. Told from two points of view and two timelines. Monica, young college student wants to reunite her grandmother Yun with her cousin Meng left behind in Shanghai after WWII. They had been estranged since.

Their family has a secret related to the family’s company, The Phoenix Pencil Company. Monica’s narration is 2018 in the US, Yun’s is told from her childhood in China to the present. I found the story interesting and learned a lot about the hardships faced by the people during the war.

I didn’t really connect to the magic pencil story and was expecting more of that story line relating to Monica and her friend Louise and what was revealed about Yun and her cousin Meng.

Magic realism is not my favorite genre, but if you like this sort of story I think you’ll like this one.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow Publishers for the ARC in exchange for my honest review

The Phoenix Pencil Company had major potential, and honestly, Yun’s story totally delivered. It was heartfelt, nuanced, and had that slow-burn emotional payoff I love. I was all in for her chapters. Monica’s storyline, though, felt kind of scattered and less compelling by comparison. I found myself skimming just to get back to Yun. While the book explores themes of memory, reinvention, and legacy, the imbalance between the two narratives threw off the pacing. It’s a solid read overall, but I found myself wishing the entire novel had focused on Yun.

This book exceeded my expectations; it was such an amazing story, and the characters were so memorable. I was totally engaged throughout the entire novel.
A remarkable debut.

I gave this one my best shot but unfortunately was just not connecting with it. Not sure if it was the writing style, the magical realism, or just generally not enjoying the tone, but I couldn’t connect with the story in any way (not usually a challenge for me).

Ending up DNFing a quarter of the way in. I know this will work for many (most??) people, but just not me. Thank you to NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review!!

I'm 30% in and just had to put this one down. I love some magical realism blended with historical fiction, but the particular "magic" that is happening in this book isn't the kind that grabs me. I was struggling with the voice of the grandmother writing to her cousin recounting their shared history. It sounded like she was telling the cousin what happened (memories that the cousin shared) instead of reminiscing? It was "tell" vs. "show," and just felt wooden to me. Not sure if that was intentional since the grandmother is trying to preserve her memories before she loses them, but the woodenness of it just didn't work for me.

I got this as a "Read Now" selection off of NetGalley a week before its release to see what the buzz was about that I was hearing.. Alas, it was not for me, but may be perfect for others.

This books requires one to suspend reality a bit: the Phoenix Pencil company is a front for women in the family who had a magical power to pass memories from previous pencil owners. I could never picture exactly how this Reforging power worked, and I think my minor struggles with this novel were because of that. (I also thought the story was a bit too long and dragged a bit). However, the prose was beautiful, and the story was intriguing and this was an impressive debut.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A delightful, original story with dual timelines and POVs, The Phoenix Pencil Company starts with Monica trying to find her grandmother's cousin from China who she hasn't seen in decades. A powerful technology at school allows her the tool to start the hunt. Told alternatively from Monica's POV and her grandmother's, Monica learns their is much more to their family than meets the eye. Magical and thought provoking, this is sure to be a hit for readers this summer.

I was so excited to see this picked for Reese’s Book Club—she tends to choose good ones—and I really enjoyed it. As with most dual timeline books, I preferred one over the other (Yun's story, in the past), but both were interesting.

The power of the reforged pencils gave it a unique twist. I enjoy magical realism, grounded in a world I recognize, over the heavy world-building of fantasy. The magic here felt natural and added depth without overwhelming the story or requiring heavy brain power!

The story moved along at a good pace. It was thoughtful and heartfelt, with just enough of a creative spin to make it stand out from other historical fiction.

CW: Wounds (Mild); Self-Harm (Stabbing); Caring for/Experiencing Dementia/Alzheimer’s

This book provides a dual narrative, one from Monica Tsai, who builds connections via computers and social media, and her grandmother, Yun, who builds connections from a family power to recapture any writing from a pencil. In between there is a lesbian love story, grappling with digital storytelling and data ethics (Monica) and Yun struggling to write down her past in a letter to her cousin, Meng, before Alzheimer’s robs her of the ability. I found the two narratives well balanced and equally interesting, which is often hard to achieve with dual narratives. I would recommend this book for fans of Asian history, family histories, and magical realism.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced reader copy.

When Monica Tsai comes home from college to see her grandparents, she realizes that things are not okay. Her grandmother is at the beginning of Alzheimer's and Monica is willing to do anything--including take a semester off from college and work part-time for her professor who's creating a tech startup around connecting people through online journaling--to help. So when her grandmother makes a request that Monica help find her long lost cousin, Monica readily uses her access to the tech database to find the cousin, and in the process she learns about the many buried secrets in her family, stretching all the way back to their roots in Shanghai.

I find that I'm still trying to piece together exactly how I feel about it. I have a feeling this is a book that will stick with me for a while. The premise is just plain strange (no spoilers): the way these women Reforge pencils is unexpected and made me wonder about the utility of pencils and why the author chose them as the vehicle for collecting memories. Monica is, at times, incredibly frustrating in her passiveness, but seeing her emotional journey unfold was worth the read. If you're interested in a lightly speculative novel that has a lot of heart and digs into the importance of memory and family, this is a great option.

The Phoenix Pencil Company came out on June 3, 2025.